The Trump administration is preparing to send 500 U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia as tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf region, CNN reported on Thursday July 18.

The troops will be based in a desert area east of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, probably at the Prince Sultan Air Base, where a small number of troops are already stationed, CNN quoted a U.S. official as saying.

Based on security assessments, this is an area Iranian missile units will find difficult to target.

Two U.S. Department of Defense officials have confirmed the reports about the new deployment, the New York Times reported, calling the move “the latest show of force toward Iran.”

According to the NYT, “The roughly 500 troops are part of a broader tranche of forces sent to the region over the past two months after tensions between Washington and Tehran escalated.”

Tensions between Iran and the United States have been on the rise since Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, reaching a dangerous peak in June 2019 when Iran’s revolutionary guards (IRGC) downed a U.S. drone over international waters in the Persian Gulf region.